Hey Kevin, the email address wasn’t supposed to be a clickable link, I’ve changed it now so that it’s just an image (it’s an image so spam robots cannot scrape the text of my site and get my email address). Does the image show up? If so, just read that email address and type it into your email program. If the image with my email address is not showing up please let me know. Thanks.

Hi joel there is a lawful way to claim the land. Surveying it and registering it (not with the mainstream govt) with a lawful alternate society. And doing a letters patent in a Gazzette. If you r interested call me, I live in whistler. cheers

I built a wonderful treehouse with electricity and a front porch in our backyard. You probably should not have built this on someone else’s land with out permission. I have always said all I want is an acre of my own land that is ajacent to a tract of wild land like this. You should see if you can dismantle this and buy a small lot somewhere close by.

If he took it down and built it on his own bit of land…it would be just a treehouse in his own back yard. The Hemloft is something different… I think he should build more. A whole village of Hemlofts. How cool would that be… He’s a monkey genius!

it’s got so much character! what a beautiful thing you have created! it would be a shame for it to get taken down, unless you decided to move it somewhere more secure. i wouldn’t geocache it–leave it an enchanting mystery that hopefully any lucky folks who find it will cherish and preserve.

fyi–i’d buy the plans so i could build something like it at my folks’ place in asheville, nc, if they’d let me. i don’t have carpentry experience, but my dad could help me.

Wow, you built a dream treehouse. How cool is that. It was my childhood dream to have a treehouse. But I wasn’t as handy, nor did I have a tree. So I settled for an indoor fort made of pillows, buckets and blankets. Thank you for sharing your creation!

….so impressed not only with your single mindedness but your design ability and craftsmanship. The “egg” is such a perfect shape. Not only visually elegant but, as they teach in architecture school, structurally elegant as well. I would be very proud to have designed it. I hope you can save it but I also think that that the process may have been more important to you as a person than the result.

hi.fantastic.hey bro.im 38.ive been loving this province deep in my heart.my goal is to hike every trail,swim every lake,and if u talked to my friends live for free on crown land at the back of stave lake.your living my dream,good for u.i live for the trees,fresh air,animals,and water.nature freak.

I’m super duper impressed with what you’ve done and how you’ve done it. I love the entire concept and I must say, my favorite part is the kitchen!!! I just love the home you built and the way that you went about it! Thanks for the inspiration of doing what you want and defying the odds!

Amazing work mate, this is the sort of thing creative people can only dream about. I live in England and am contemplating a trip out just to see this wonder. I would love to cook a real outdoor chilli con carne in the kitchen. Then watch the wildlife as I ate it. Fantastic mate, really, just amazing.

Love the house. Love the lifestyle. Love the eco-friendliness. Great initiative. Poor foresight. Build a house on land you don’t own? Retire at 26? You can only avoid reality so long my friend and then it’s going to be time to grow up.

When your young you can call yourself a car dweller and sport sleeper. Around mid-30′s they call it things like poverty and homelessness…sleeping on a park bench. It’s about the same time cute girls stop showing up to hang out too.

Fortunately, you’ve got something to pursue. Build it, market it, sell it. Repeat. Then buy some land, build it, live in it. And of course keeping building it and selling it. It also referred to as joining the rat race. There’s no way around it. Doing something that you love and believe in, can however, take the sting out of it.

We live in a forested private community in hilly western NC and I have dreamed of a treehouse in our woods. Your design is the best I’ve ever seen. If you ever put a plan up for sale I would very much like to buy one. Hemloft blends so beautifully, naturally and uniquely into its environment it would be a great shame if it is not allowed to stay there. Some of the commentors suggest great ideas; I truly hope one of them works for you and Hemloft.

That is pure engineering, genius, & art. You are the Michael Angelo of creativity and design. Great work. I wish I can built this house for my kids in our backyard, I will spend my nights there :)… goo luck

Great work!… Donate the materials that comprise the structure to the Royal house. As a rescue station for lost hikers, and then request that you be permitted to man it as an unpaid volunteer. Who knows perhaps there may even be a tax break for the candles.

Joel, you have built a very aesthetic tree house; however, I do have a few of concerns. First, the major problem I see with the design is that the six-point load-bearing supports are exerting a lot of pressure on the trunk of the tree at the base of the frame. Although the trunk in and of itself is quite sturdy, the delicate cambium tissue is just under the bark and only an inch or so away from the surface of the tree. The weight of the structure is surely doing damage to the cambium layer in this area. It could also be girdling the tree since pressure is being exerted within a tight ring. Second, with the floor of the structure attached to the bottom third of the frame, pressure at the top of the six-point frame is being exerted away from the tree. Consequently, over time the lag bolts can become loose and work their way out. This could cause one of more of the frame supports to suddenly peel away like a banana peel. Third, since you have attached metal to the tree, it will attract lighting even though the metal is not grounded. I am an arborist, so I’m speaking from experience.

You have a beautiful design, but I do not believe that it is best suited for a living tree. Anyway, best wishes and be safe.

bigboots is right; the tree will eventually die; if you care for the tree, you’ll have to dismantle your beautiful creation!!!
Reason: a tree needs to grow freely; a tree has feelings; that tree must be suffering right now!!!

You are such an inspiration! Good for you for having the courage and vision to create this. Most people settle for too little and deny themselves the beauty and freedom that is within reach. I wish you all the best and hope you will never lose your capacity to dream, backed by self-belief and willingness to work for what you care about. All good wishes for a wonderful life! And pls keep writing, filming and sharing with all of us…

Why not just find another tree on land you can buy (or have donated) and move the tree-house? If we can disassemble a castle brick by brick and move it across the ocean to resemble it, I’m sure your “Hemloft” will survive a move to a new location. Good luck!

This is awesome. It is wonderful, you are so creative and I am amazed by this structure. I wish you the best of luck keeping your ECHO FRIENDLY tree house in tact. It is a simpler way of life and something I envy. I would love to have something like that even if it was just for weekends and holidays. It would be my “escape pod” A way to shut out the world for a few hours. GOOD LUCK to you!

wow! what an inspiration to hear your story. I wish you the best and i hope you will be able to save your hemloft tree house. I live in MD and would love to find out if you are willing to sell a blueprint of your creation.

What a great idea! This should be held up (and I suppose has been, now, in Dwell mag) as an shining example of architectural sustainability. Love the dramatic irony or juxtaposition of being nestled in wilderness over looking multimillion dollar abodes. Your footprint of 9 sq ft is where it’s at. Kudos my friend.

ASHIA HOTEP MURI :YES SO VERY COOL: THE TRADITION OF NEST BUILDING IS BEING KEPT ALIVE.. WELL DONE: WE ALL LIVED IN TREES: THEN CAVES: THEN THE ABODE MANY NOW CALLED HOMES: HERE ARE SOME LINKS FOR FUTURE INSPIRATIONS: YOU DID A GREAT CREATIVE SHARING: HAHAHAHA ON THE SO-CALLED QUEENS (STOLEN) LAND: BAMBOO HOUSE: http://tropical-treehouse.com/page1.html

Your treehouse is very good plus that kitchen is very organized (Nolan age 7)
The treehouse is well built and I like that at first I thought the tree house was on the ground but then I noticed it was actually up (Leo age 4)
We are thinking about building a treehouse in our backyard. Your’s is beautiful and is an inspiration. Good luck to you. (Mom age …)

[…] only problem is, it wasn’t built on his land – it belongs to the Crown. Better known as HemLoft, the orb currently hangs from a precipitous slope in a stand of towering hemlocks, but is at risk […]

From one fellow computer tech to another, the project came out beautifully, I do thoroughly enjoy the way the Hemloft integrates with it’s environment and how you used the natural resources to build it. I believe that if you would contact the property owner, and appraise them of your ingenuity, and offer to purchase the one tree or lease the tree from them, with the provision that they will provide you with access to the property.

And cross your fingers, I’m sure that the Hemloft would a welcome addition to the forest. Who knows you may be commissioned to replicate it at other locations throughout the forest.

bigboots is right; the tree will eventually die; if you care for the tree, you’ll have to dismantle your beautiful creation!!!
Reason: a tree needs to grow freely; a tree has feelings; that tree must be suffering right now!!!

OMG ! The tree is suffering, I would rather see a tree being of good use than to see Joel suffering,he love’s Nature & so do we ! What about all those trees that are being brought down everyday. What’s up with that …1 Tree being put to good use LOL

Squatting what ? he’s just trying to live like everyone else, what about people living on the streets,their squatting too ? what the street . I know there are lots of ????????? & lots of answers .To me he paid for his little cabin,he’s not disturbing anybody and it’s a cute idea,why have land there if you can’t do anything with it.God created that for our own use,and as such should be aloud to be used,Animals can well then so does Human Race …

This is an awesome idea,I even say that more should be built to keep homeless people off the streets,we find nice comfortable places for Animals rights, yet we do sweet fck***l for the Human rights, TO LIVE IN A HOME be it in a tree or otherwise, it’s way better than living on the streets.What are they doing with those so called crown land anyway? While people are suffering ,and yes it’s not just CHINA … CANADA are in desperate need of land to live. Anyway hope it works out for the best, you go Joel..I’m sure you can come up with something interesting for everyone’s content. JEALOUSY will do no good whatsoever in this situation, common people lets stand together and find a smart SOLUTION 🙂

bigboots is right; the tree will eventually die; if you care for the tree, you’ll have to dismantle your beautiful creation!!!
Reason: a tree needs to grow freely; a tree has feelings; that tree must be suffering right now!!!

Yea, how did he attach it to the tree? thats probably what? 150+ year old tree? now with hundreds of nails sticking in it 🙁

I’d live off the grid in a heartbeat, but in Ont it would be alot harder than in BC. Love the tree house. Beautiful and hope you can find a way to keep it. Although you should have done a little homework of the land issue first, as you can’t just plop a tree house where ever you want or else there would be hundreds of them out there but now that you started this….DON’T tear it down and DON’T give up on it. Where there is a will, there is a way as you already know. You would need to purchase more land then just the tree & small area it sits on as to preserve the surrounding area before some day it all gets cut down. Try land lease, try convincing the govt to let you use it as a teaching tool for others (school kids, carpenters etc.) while keeping the traffic down as much as possible. Use it to teach the world again that we can live off the land while preserving nature and stopping urban polution & spral……I could go on forever but you get my point. Don’t give up…..you’ll think of something. Question, how the heck did you haul the material up the mountian? And it looks like it would leak through the slats if it rained? Or is it the egg shape that would keep it dry?

It would be sucha shame if they took it down. I vote that you should keep it! It’s amazing, cool, creative and artsy! I love it! If they’d be such assholes to take down a perfectly beautiful treehouse. The “autority/gov.” always have some reason to be unhappy about, they are just all greedy for money. PERIOD.

Maybe, you could sell the plans to your treehouse and offer a % of the sales as rent to live there. The government never refuses $. Also you could leave the house to the government after you pass on. This way the government can use it as a camper condo and charge a fee to use it. You can then be able to keep it during your lifetime without the gov. being too much of a pain. It ‘s just a thought.

What an idyllic spot and lovely treehouse. You created a work of art and hopefully it will be able to remain where it is. Now that you’ve let the world know about this amazing creation I hope you are not invaded by the curious hordes. I’m happy you shared but it might just be to your detriment. I wish you nothing but happiness an good fortune with this venture.

Wow… Totally came here and didn’t expect to spend over 30 minutes reading all 10 chapters of the story. I loved every minute of it. Your passion to get away from behind the computer screen reminds me a lot of myself, being a graphic artist and wondering if a desk is what I want for my life. I loved the movie “Into The Wild” and this somewhat reminded me of it. I have bookmarked this page, and I highly doubt i’ll ever forget about this.

Above all, i’m sorry for my English, i don’t talk and don’t write very in English. I’m a brazilian student in environmental engineering the state of São Paulo, and I was impressed by his house and hia idea. I have 19 years and my dream was always to live in the woods. I hope one day get to do what you did. Congratulations for the work and the idea, if you can, answer in my email.!

what a great concept! awesome design and craftsmanship !!!!! congrats!
how inspiring to make cool things, just because!!!
sure hope it will stay up! and yes, i am a tree lover, a builder, and i think it’s very cool.
way to go, Joel.

Nice job! If the Government was smart they would make it an attraction with all the proceeds to save or enhance the park land. And let you do some special autograph tour dates. I’d pay to have my picture taken with you two and get a signed note book of the adventures about this journey Keep it real tree Houser. Enjoy our family loved the story. Leo

Consider the works of Andy Goldsworthy, who sculpts with leaves and ice and other temporary materials, photographs them well, and moves on to the next inspired work. It is o.k. to thanks the property owner and walk away: the experience, the inspiration, the story, and the relationships may be enough. The work is excellent. The tree and treehouse have divergent needs.

I find comfort and hope for the future watching young people like you doing remarkable, creative things. I wish you well and hope that the powers that be find a way to allow this beautiful work of art to remain untouched. Don’t stop creating, dreaming, working and questioning authority. Please let us know how this gets resolved.

Great work man! Oustanding design and inspiring view that freshs the soul! I believe it´s a place where you go to rest and recharge your batteries, not you real living home. Wish you have all the luck on your project of keeping it and also achieve supporters for so. If one day I had money I want to have one alike! Best regards from Brazil.

Now that I’ve watched as many tree-house videos as I could, I have to say yours is by far the most beautiful and functional looking for the space. Are you planning on marketing the plans? I agree with the International Movement, and I already have the spot (not on public land, though). As far as saving it, I thought Sandra Weissman gave advise worth looking into. The best of luck to you; hope you (or others based on your plans) get to build many all over the world.

Great this treehouse,…very nice designed,..hope you can save it,…wish you positieve energie ,..been to years ago to Whisler,…did,nt see it haha,..succes most be ways to keep it.
Should built more of these clean eco houses,..hang more of these in the trees and you can rent them for visitors as well. greetz from Holland.

Just saw the loft this weekend for the first time, truly inspiring! The level of detail is mind blowing! your web story is romantic! We humans need more creative adventures like this one. It can only makes this planet a better place to live!

So, what happens when this tree grows? Are you nailed into the tree or netted rather? Should check out the tree walk in canada… the walk attaches to the tree with a noninvasive net and metal wrap; it also has much space for the tree to grow. You might run into some trouble with that one…

Hello Joel and Heidi.
How inspiring.
Great to meet up with your project.
Even if a government is getting the ambition to remove it, you are unstoppable as many before you have also.
Thank you and greetings from Bill

It is a perch in one of Gods most beautiful gifts…
The sights and smells of fresh air natural cooling winds and they sway of the tree during the night, must be as close to Heaven as any mortal man can get with out crossing the lords great divide…!
No I am not a priest.. I just love nature and it inspires me so when I see something of beauty which does not intrude on nature as a eye sore…

Hey there. Today you reminded me that i am capable of creating my dreams. That i can manifest anything i want in this life. I really appreciate your inspirational story and beautiful way of telling it. I feel like after reading the website i know exactly what your authentic voice sounds like! What a lovely tale. I hope you are well and that the joy and adventures are endless. Thank you! 🙂

Just heard of this today in the news. We try to live a green as possible here in Burnaby BC. Your creation is AB FAB. STUNNINGLY beautiful! SAD its coming down. I wish I had heard of it before. I am no architect either I built this in my garden from recycled wood a just 4 shop face boards 🙂 nothing comparable but it makes me proud and there is a BIG tall strong pine tree standing behind it. It looks very tempting now to create a Penthouse up there:-) http://visualsenses.smugmug.com/Nature-in-its-many-splendors/My-KALE-forest-and-organic/13595110_78GD5j#!i=1583178020&k=mJDtZNv I hope you are getting a grand new place for your creation. The music name Mausi sounds very Austrian like myself. Thanks for the Inspiration!

Hi. My name is Thatielle. I’m from Brazil.
I am a student of architecture and performing research found this house.
This house is amazing. Congratulations on creativity, really different. Loved it so much.
Note: Sorry for my english.

I lived in whistler last summer but never got the chance to visit the hemloft, which at this point I do regret. i’m going back next week for the summer again and was hoping to finally have the chance to make the visit. I quickly found out from my local friends that they have already taken it down. Truly I think that is a tragedy and that it was a perfect little secret in the woods. Although i’ve never been to it I have always been very interested, constantly hearing stories and seeing pictures. The Hemloft and the Trainwreck are the first two spots that all locals love to boast about and take people to visit. It was a part of Whistler, at least in my eyes. It wasn’t harming anyone or anything, but they just couldn’t turn a blind eye to it which is a shame. anyways i’m sorry to hear the government had to get rid of your contribution to the land, but what is certain is the Hemloft will be a part of Whistlers past. It will go down in history!

Just happened upon your story in a serendipitous fashion as I was sitting in my drab, inauspicious cubicle at lunchtime at a medical devices R&D facility in SoCal and was amazed by your treehouse and inventive lifestyle in the spectacular wilds of B.C. where I have often visited. How lucky you are to have had the imagination and gumption to embark on this adventure. I wish you great luck in your efforts to keep it rolling…. with media exposure you no doubt will garner much public support, but that is a 2-edged sword, unfortunately, unfortunately. Keep the blueprints and go into business!